Young People Benefit from Regional Education Grants
16 February 2016 at 10:25 am
The Foundation for Regional and Rural Renewal has awarded $280,000 in grants to 38 community groups across Australia to fund education initiatives, through its REAPing Rewards program – and opened a new round of funding.
The foundation (FRRR) said the program supports a holistic approach to education, beginning in early childhood by ensuring children are school ready, and continues to support primary and secondary education, ensuring equal access to the resources and opportunities available to metropolitan students.
FRRR’s Program Manager, Jeanice Henderson, said that the program strived to support the educational resources and individualised learning support that rural and remote students require.
“In awarding grants, we look at need and local solutions that ensure equality of learning outcomes. Interestingly, this round has seen some first-time funding requests, such as 3D printers and robotics kits,” Henderson said.
“There has also been an increase in projects that support youth transition activities into further study or employment.”
FRRR’s CEO, Natalie Egleton, said that the program aims to break down barriers for isolated children and youth and it is working.
“We’ve already seen increased school attendance, engagement and motivation through the numerous projects we have supported and we thank all our current donors for investing in this collaborative program, including Ian Potter Foundation, Yulgilbar Foundation, Third Link Investment, Barr Family Foundation, Gross Foundation, Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and Thyne Reid Foundation,” Egleton said.
Egleton said REAPing Rewards was one of the highest demand programs and FRRR was seeking additional funding partners to enable it to continue nation-wide.
“We received 117 applications requesting a total of $979,419 for a wide variety projects and we were only able to support 32 per cent of these. This means many worthy projects benefiting Australia’s future workforce missed out,” Eggleton said.
“There is still more to be done to restore the educational balance for children in remote areas – communities need more funds to address this gap.”
Round 6 of the REAPing Rewards program is currently open for applications for grants up to $10,000 – it closes 24 March 2016. The program guidelines and application forms are available on the REAPing Rewards page of FRRR’s website.
The complete list of projects funded is available on FRRR’s website.
